Wu Tang Forever - Wu Tang Clan

...the group. It sees the Wu (consisting of RZA, Ghostface Killah, Ol’ Dirty B*****d, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, U-God, GZA, Method Man and Masta Killa) dropping something which was highly popular in the mid-to late nineties phase with a double album (which had recently be seen from 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., and to be done a little later by R. Kelly E-40) and other) in order to really let them all have a significant role within this release. This second ...
...is a killer one and features The Wu performing to their full potential without really dropping the quality of the music at all. You can’t really complain about much of this and if you are into your nineties underground East Coast Hip Hop, then you will certainly enjoy this.   ... more

The nine-man New York Hip Hop crew the Wu-Tang Clan released “Wu-Tang Forever” as their second album in 1997 after a four-year break, in which a few of the MC had done solo work and other collaborative projects away from the group. It sees the Wu (consisting of RZA, Ghostface Killah, Ol’ Dirty B*****d, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, U-God, GZA, Method Man and Masta Killa) dropping something which was highly popular in the mid-to late nineties phase with a double album (which had recently be seen from 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., and to be done a little later by R. Kelly E-40) and other) in order to really let them all have a significant role within this release. This second album form them sees the majority of the production covered by RTZA again, but True Master, Inspectah Deck and 4th Disciple are all seen to do so too.

Disc 1:

1. “Wu-Revolution” (Intro)

2. “Reunited”

Getting things started here you see that we get it kicked off with a hardcore jam with one which really represents their music well with RZA’s haunting beats seen to have moved on quite a bit to show that they were down for all tha the Hip Hop world had to offer as they went from the early to the late nineties. The most popular MCs begin it and I felt that it was just the way it had to be.

**Five Stars**

3. “For Heaven’s Sake”

You have a pounding, head-bobbing track here as you find RZA’s heavy percussion kicks in and it allows the artists to go hard on it to show just what they have to offer for this album. It gets you excited for what is to come and acts as a straight hype tune. You see Cappadonna making an appearance to make a little change to things, and it fits in well with the roughness of this track.

**Five Stars**

4. “Cash Still Rules/Scary Hours”

In reference to one of the most popular tracks to a come off their debut album, this one sees a bit of a change the material as 4th Disciple is on the beats and it seems to have a different feel with a pretty simplistic structure which doesn’t have any sort of change through it, but this isn’t a negative issue as the rotation of the MCs means that you are excited by each verse of this hook-less recording. It is intense and the names involved means this has a bit of a Mafioso feel to it.

**Four Stars**

5. “Visionz”

You see a bit more variety with Inspectah Deck on te beats and I felt that i really hyped things up as he comes with an empowering composition. From this you see that the Meth opening voice takes things to a place where you can’t go wrong with it and you see that as it progresses, the levels stay just as high.

**Five Stars**

6. “As High As Wu-Tang Get”

You see that with this one the line-up is brought down to three key figures in a rather short one. I felt that it was an intense one and the ODB hook was really fitting as it really suits the direction of the music and what the theme of this one concerns. GZA and Meth’ go hard on this with some of the most complex rhymes you find on the whole thing as you see that (especially with GZA’s flow, you have him coming with lots of extended metaphor and internal rhymes which show just how strong a lyricist he is.

**Five Stars**

7. “Severe Punishment”

This is a fly one from them and it seems to just burst upon you out of nowhere to get things excited. You have the first appearance form U-God here and with him starting things up on it, he really makes a big impact and sets things up well for what is to come in the rest of this typical underground East coast Hip Hop joint.

**Five Stars**

8. “Older Gods”

Here you have one which has all of the most respected MCs coming together as it has GZA (the only one of the nine to have released a record prior to Wu-Tang first) working with Raekwon and Ghostface for some of their Mafioso-style Rap. It was very much of-the-time and they do it in a way which sill takes things further forward.

**Four Stars**

9. “Maria”

With ODB the most prominent artist on this one, you see that here you have a pretty eccentric track here with them staying largely to the same rigid form as they have, but altering things a little with ODB’s strange approach with rhymes which have him following his own personal rhythm. It stands out and takes a little longer to get into, but it is still a good one.

**Four Stars**

10. “A Better Tomorrow”

You get a crowded joint here as many of the MCs get on top of this dark one in order to all put their own personal opinion in on it. It is a significant tune from them and sees them putting forward some socially-conscious work about how people need to get about of the cycle where your offspring grow up in circumstances similar to your own.

**Four Stars**

11. “It’s Yourz”

Bringing the first disc to an end, you see that you get a tune which really makes changes to what you get on here with one which brings up the energy for something much lighter and more manageable to those who can’t get through the darkness of the majority of this type of underground East Coast Hip Hop, and so it ends things nicely with an uplifting one.

**Five Stars**

Disc 2:

1. “Intro”

2. “Triumph”

This is a significant track as it sees for the first time all of the MCs (and Cappadonna) performing together on one track. The hook-less single is a straight banger and it sees them coming with something hardcore to really show what they are about and do so with great flow to make all the transitions seamless in order to make something of the unity they have.

**Five Stars**

3. “Impossible”

Off the last one, you see that things have to move on somewhat to recover from what came just before it, and you see that here they do an unorthodox one with RZA taking control with the first rhyme (and handing on the production to 4th Disciple) with some off-beat, spoken work flows which show just how far he wants to distance himself from the sounds of mainstream Hip Hop (which he refers to as R&B: Rap and Bulls**t).

**Four Stars**

4. “Little Ghetto Boys”

Here you get a lengthy one which has Cappadonna and Raekwon doing things without assistance. I felt that it was successful as I personally didn’t expect to see that it would be as successful as many of the others with such a stripped down line-up full of frequent changes, but the varied production structure means that it works.

**Four Stars**

5. “Deadly Melody”

You see one of relatively few appearances from Masta Killa as he starts things off on this one. It is another of the tune where you get a large range of the acts coming together for a crowded joint where lots of them come together to get into on one which has them showing how the deeply complex Hip Hop can still make a big impact.

**Four Stars**

6. “The City”

You see that the Conscious Hip hop becomes a lot more prominent in the material with this one and I felt that it gave a bit of a change to the material. However I have to say that this was one on the double album which didn’t really stand out all that much to really make any sort of lasting impression on you.

**Four Stars**

7. “The Projects”

I felt that this one seemed to stay on the same sort of level as the one prior to it with the music not really moving on all that much. However in spite of the fact it didn’t really do all that much to really stand out form the crowd, it is clearly one of the ones which you can’t just brush off with them coming up with great things and brining out more original work through the middle of the second disc.

**Four Stars**

8. “Bells Of War”

You get more hype out of the music once this one gets into effect and you see the same MCs as on the one prior to it with just the addition of RZA, and as these are amongst the most hyped, it is guaranteed to bring out a response from the listener as they stay on their stream-of-consciousness flows.

**Four Stars**

9. “The M.G.M.”

True Master is one the beats of this one and it brings out something completely different in a massive change to what you got in pretty much all the beats up to this point with just RZA ad 4th Disciple playing this role in it, but here you see that it comes out with something ahead of the rest as it has the key duo of Raekwon The Chef and Ironman, Ghostface coming with some tag team flows.

**Five Stars**

10. “Dog S**t”

From the title alone you can probably guess that it will be ODB behind it, and you discover that in fact he is the sole rapper in this one. Dirt Dog does things alone and comes with a freaky little joint which has him going everywhere with his flows with lots of random things coming in and being used to drive his music, and it really makes for an effective break from what you have had up to this point.

**Four Stars**

11. “Duck Seazon”

You see that with this one they appear to return to the grungy sound of early tunes on the record as you get one which has RZA taking on a dual role and doing s whilst working with Meth’ and Raekwon in an effective manner which comes out with memorable work from the artist as they do more to showcase their raw sound.

**Five Stars**

12. “Hellz Wind Staff”

Sampling a little more Ku-Fu movie clips, you see that this one starts in a different way as you here that Streetlife joins them and brings something which was absent from the res of the album with his freshness sounding alien here, but bringing up a massive hype as a result to get them ripping through some higher-paced beats.

**Five Stars**

13. “Heaterz”

This is one of the tunes on it which doesn’t particularly do all that much and instead has them getting into the type of joint where they rely upon the quality of their flows and appear to neglect how well this needs to fit in with the standards of the beats, and the production holds it back to a degree, but of course they find a way to hold it together.

**Four Stars**

14. “Black Shampoo”

As we wind down, here you have another solo piece as this time you have the bassy-voiced U-God doing things alone for one in which he has a go at taking the subject towards which lighter themes as he does a gentle, relaxed one to lift the mood to some degree, and it acts as another escape from the intensity of what you get elsewhere here.

**Four Stars**

15. “Second Coming”

You have them lifting the mood even more with a track which has RZA choosing to produce a very different one in which the MCs back off and make way for a gentle song, sung by the female Soul singer Tekitha. It acts as an lead-up to the outro, and isn’t really much of a song itself.

16. “The Closing” (Outro)

This album is a killer one and features The Wu performing to their full potential without really dropping the quality of the music at all. You can’t really complain about much of this and if you are into your nineties underground East Coast Hip Hop, then you will certainly enjoy this.  

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